Avengers X Eternals

Phastos

Phastos entered the apartment after a long day of work. Like a normal human, he hung up his coat on the rack and put his briefcase below that on the floor. He saw there was a large meal in the over and went to join Ben on the couch where the television was on.

"How was the University today?" Ben asked nonchalantly, more just trying to ignite conversation.

"It was long... and none of my students paid any attention to my lecture on nuclear physics." He could work out the physics problems in his brain without any difficulty and enjoyed thinking about the best ways to incorporate his inventions into human society. "What about you?"

"It was more of the same. But I actually wanted to talk with you about something important tonight."

Phastos leaned into him and half focused on the television. "What about?" Human television hadn't been one of his designs but boy did he love it.

"My parents are coming to town later this week and I want you to meet them."

Phastos thought about it for a moment. He liked Ben a lot and thought it was a step in the right direction. Although he wasn't a fan of answering any questions about his own family. Because with those questions came truths, truths that he wasn't sure he was ready to face and growing old and dying.

"I'd be happy to meet your parents," he said with a genuine smile. "What day are they coming?"

"Oh, thank goodness," Ben sighed with a giddy smile. "They surprised me with the visit and are right downstairs. They'll be up in ten minutes."

Phastos blinked. "They're downstairs... right now?"

Ben pressed a quick kiss on his lips. "Thanks for being so understanding. And I'm sorry this is so last minute, I genuinely had no idea they were coming." He happily pranced around the room and Phastos smiled, remembering why he lived the man.

Phastos did what he could to clean up, making sure he was clean and smelling good, then double-checked the machines he'd built into the apartment. It seemed redundant to check, but he just had to be sure. Nothing could make this meeting go awry.

The apartment wasn't in a good state when his parents knocked on the door but it would have to do. Ben went to the front door while Phastos made a few last-second adjustments. "I would've cleaned up more but you surprised me with the visit," Ben said as he led his parents into the living room. "And this is Phastos, my boyfriend."

Phastos did his best to make a good first impression, which he figured he did poorly. One thing five thousand years of experience didn't give him was the experience with significant others' parents. But both of them seemed nice enough.

Immediately meeting them he could tell Ben got his looks mostly from his dad. Had he seen the two of them in public beside one another he would've immediately made the assumption. They had the same thin chin and same eyes. He got his blonde hair from his mother. "Pleasure to meet you both." Phastos then made a gesture towards the kitchen table.

They sat down and talked for what felt like hours and in that time Phastos felt like his parents liked him more and more. They told him hilarious stories from when he was a child and gave all kinds of insights into what life was really like growing up human.

"What about you Phastos? What was your childhood like?" Ben's father, Jim asked at one point. They'd been beating around the question for a while now, yet he still had no idea what to say.

"My family is a little complicated," he said with a tight lip. He hadn't told Ben the specific details of his past and didn't know how to bring it up. "I haven't seen any of them in a really long time."

His mother, Sasha, noticed the hesitation in his voice and inquired further. "Do you have any siblings and why aren't you close?" He knew the question was just to protect Ben from any potential problems, but he really wished she would stop prying.

"I have quite a few siblings, no parents, well not like normal parents. I'm sorry that's very vague but it's kind of hard to describe." Phastos hoped that would be the end of it.

"Why don't you get along with your siblings?" Sasha pried again, her voice testing.

Suddenly a knock came on the front door and Phastos was thankful for an excuse to get up. "I'll get it." He didn't need an enhanced hearing to know that they were talking about his reluctance to answer questions. He opened the door and instantly frowned. "Thena..."

"Long time..." she said sourly. "I know you wanted your space from everything, but I wouldn't come if it wasn't urgent." She forced herself inside before Phastos could raise any objections.

"Thena what are you doing?" He tried to whisper but she instantly made her way into the family room where everyone stared at her.

"Oh..." she said with a smile. "You're playing house." Thena walked slowly around the table and looked at the food, specifically a loaf of bread. She took it into her hands and admired it for a reason that was lost to Phastos.

"You need to leave now." His tone made it abundantly clear he wasn't joking, although Thena had never been keen on listening to him.

"Are you Phastos's sister?" Sasha asks.

Thena's eyes poked up. "Why yes, yes I am. What's exactly happening here?"

"Phastos has been reluctant to talk about his past and I want to know why?"

Ben tried to raise his hands to talk his mother off but she scuffed him off with a hand. Part of him was angry at Ben for not speaking up more, and the other part was sympathetic for putting up with his mother for such a long time.

Thena's eyes flicked over the situation, then fell back onto her lap, almost ashamed. "I almost killed Gilgamesh a week ago," she said in ancient Mesopotamian. "He barely survived."

Phastos's posture got serious and he stepped closer to her. "Is everything okay Thena?"

"Two Deviants have attacked in the past week." She also said in the ancient dialect. "And Ikaris is... I'm unsure at the moment but there is a chance he has been placed under some kind of mind control."

Phastos straightened his back at the last sentence. "Druig?"

Thena shook her head. "Someone from another planet with a weapon not of this earth." Thena then switched back to English. Ben's family watched the conversation with great interest. "I know you are trying to settle down and forget about everything. But now is not the time, the family needs you. Now more than ever before. I need you, I can't go walking around alone in case I lose control."

Phastos ran his hands over his head. "Alright, but just give me a minute."

Thena nodded and exited the room. The legendary warriors' presence lifted a tension blanket that had fallen over the room. Phastos sat down at the table once again. Everyone waited for him to speak for a change.

"I guess I'll start from the beginning."